well as someone who lives in Qatar I am obviously excited about this, but can see why other Asian fans may not be given we just hosted it a decade ago. Hopefully I'm going to finally get to attend an AFC final after having tickets to 2011 + 2019 finals but not being able to go to either. I guess it was the easy choice as obviously they have all the stadiums and infrastructure in place, and gotta use that stuff again.... looking forward to it...
The thing is they can give the stadiums the air-conditioning, but the tournament is so much more than just what's inside the stadiums... it is so hot in June/July, people will literally dehydrate standing in line to enter stadiums, there will be no atmosphere whatsoever outside. Also, there will be hardly anyone here to attend the matches. Schools will be out, and practically half the country empties during the summer as expats head home in droves. I can't see anyone going to see Malaysia vs Tajikistan in a 60,000 capacity stadium in the middle of the summer. It wouldn't make sense to host it then, just put it to winter and you'll have a decent tournament. Asian Cup 2011 was in winter too....
You are confusing China and South Korea (about the coronavirus). Korea was ready to host the competition. The advantage that Qatar had over them was that they had the stadiums of the World Cup and more financial means. Korea was the most deserving team to be the host.
I'm not. Of course the situation in Korea is better than in China from that point of view, but I think that thing with the testing is still in place there from what I've seen in K League quite recently.
I did not know that the Koreans were still with their covid test before the games. Do you think that the Asian cup will be held in late 2023 or early 2024? Knowing that Qatar is organizing the U-23 Asian Cup from January 10 to January 28, 2024.
There are talks in East Asia media that the award of the Asian Cup to Qatar instead of Korea means East Asia are now, more than ever, wanting to divide up AFC into East and West Asia Confederations.
Always thought it would make sense to have a west asia confederation that basically included the stans, mideast and North Africa, and then East Asia and Oceania be another confederation. Would be better in my opinion. Either way definitely think there should be some sort of rotation when it comes to hosting rights. Mind you I can see how with covid lurking, they went with the place that will have just hosted a world Cup...
Windsor John from the AFC has confirmed that the tournament will be in January 2024. The AFC and QFA are meeting in early February to confirm exact dates. https://www.bernama.com/en/sports/news.php?id=2155313
2027 awarded to Saudi Arabia. Time for a rest of Asia revolt against WAFF. There will have been 1 Asian Cup in a decent time zone in 20 years.
Well, we finally have dates... January 12- Feb 10. Nice - hopefully I can finally go to an AFC final after 2 very close calls! Still no news on when the draw will be made...
And we have a draw date as well.... May 11! 2 months away but at least it's really starting to happen.... https://www.the-aiff.com/article/afc-asian-cup-final-draw-to-be-held-on-may-11-in-qatar